Isadore Sharp
Isadore Sharp, O.C., hotel executive (born 8 October 1931 in Toronto, Ontario).
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Create AccountIsadore Sharp, O.C., hotel executive (born 8 October 1931 in Toronto, Ontario).
Lise Watier, (born Montréal, 1942). A pampered only child, Lise Watier was always interested in feminine beauty and made it her life's work. During the 1980s she began her Québec radio and television career by hosting women's programmes.
Kenneth Roy Thomson, businessman, newspaper proprietor, art collector and philanthropist (b at Toronto 1 Sep 1923; d there 12 Jun 2006).
D'Alton Corey Coleman, railway executive (b at Carleton Place, Ont 9 July 1879; d at Montréal 17 Oct 1956). After acting as private secretary to Senator George Cox in 1897 and as editor of the Belleville Intelligencer, Coleman joined the CPR in 1899.
John White Hughes Bassett, broadcasting executive (b at Ottawa 25 Aug 1915; d at Toronto 27 Apr 1998). The son of the publisher of the Montréal Gazette, Bassett graduated from Bishop's University in 1936 and became a reporter with the Toronto Globe and Mail.
Alphonse Desjardins, journalist, parliamentary reporter, founder of the Desjardins Group (born 5 November 1854 in Lévis, Québec; died 31 October 1920 in Lévis, Québec).
Marie-Clara Dorimène Desjardins (née Roy), co-founder of the Caisses populaires Desjardins (born 17 September 1858 in Sorel, QC; died 14 June 1932 in Lévis, QC).
Jules-André Brillant, businessman, entrepreneur and philanthropist (born 30 July 1888 in Assemetquahan, QC; died 11 May 1973 in Mont-Joli, QC).
Michael Stadtländer, CM, chef, restaurateur, environmental activist, artist (born 1947 in Lubeck, Germany). A Member of the Order of Canada, winner of the Governor General’s Award for Leadership and named the 2011 Restaurateur of the Year by the Canadian Association of Food Service Professionals, Michael Stadtländer is a pioneer and leader of Canada’s influential farm-to-table culinary movement.
John Fluevog, footwear designer, marketing innovator (born 15 May 1948 in Vancouver, BC).
Alfred Rouleau, insurance agent, administrator and president of Mouvement Desjardins (born 19 August 1915 in Sherbrooke, Qué; died 19 October 1985 in Montréal).
Gérard Filion, newspaper publisher (born 18 August 1909 in L’Île Verte, QC; died 26 March 2005 in Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, QC). He was the publisher of Le Devoir and an important figure of the French-Canadian nationalism.
Alain Simard, OC, COQ impresario, talent manager, producer, businessman (born 19 January 1950 in Montreal, QC). Alain Simard has been a leading figure in Quebec’s entertainment sector since the early 1970s. He is responsible for the conception and founding of some of Canada’s biggest annual festivals, including the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal (FIJM) and the FrancoFolies de Montréal, one of the largest French-language music festivals in the world. Simard is also chairman of the board of Équipe Spectra, which manages and operates festivals and performance venues, mounts stage productions, runs a record label and manages artists. In 2003, Simard was named the most influential person in the cultural world by the Montreal newspaper La Presse. He is a Chevalier of France’s Arts et des Lettres, of the Ordre de la Pléiade, and of the Ordre national du Québec; as well as an Officer of the Order of Canada.
Gilles Ste-Croix, OC, street performer, businessman (born 1950 in La Sarre, Quebec). In 1984, Gilles Ste-Croix and Guy Laliberté transformed their troupe of street performers into Cirque du Soleil, the world’s largest circus production company and one of the world’s biggest live entertainment companies. Ste-Croix served as vice-president from the company’s founding and as creative director from 1988 until his retirement in 2014. He is a Companion of the Ordre des arts et des lettres du Québec and an Officer of the Order of Canada.
On 19 December 2015, Dennis Oland was convicted of second-degree murder in the bludgeoning death of his father, Richard (Dick) Oland. A year later the conviction was overturned on appeal, and a new trial ordered. The initial, 65-day trial was the longest in New Brunswick history. It also drew national attention due to its brutal nature and revelations about the storied Oland family, founders of the Moosehead brewing empire. In 2019, Dennis Oland was found not guilty of the murder in his retrial.
Guglielmo Giovanni Maria Marconi, electrical engineer, inventor and businessman (born 25 April 1874 in Bologna, Italy; died 20 July 1937 in Rome, Italy). Marconi’s early experiments in wireless telegraphy demonstrated the potential of long-range radio communication. He is generally considered the inventor of the radio. Marconi’s first reputed reception of a transatlantic radio signal occurred at Signal Hill in St. John’s, Newfoundland, in 1901. The following year, he built a wireless transmission station in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia. Half of the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics went to Marconi for his work in wireless telegraphy.
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The role of Black people within the history of the fur trade is rarely considered. Black people were rarely in a position to write their own stories, so often those stories went untold. This owes to a complex set of factors including racism and limited access to literacy. Black people are also not the focus of many historical documents. However, historians have identified several Black fur traders working in different roles, and even an entire family of Black fur traders who left their mark on history.
John Molson, entrepreneur, politician, philanthropist (born 28 December 1763 near Moulton, Lincolnshire, England; died 11 January 1836 in Boucherville, Lower Canada). John Molson founded Canada’s oldest and largest brewery and introduced steamship travel in Canada. His investments in Montreal helped to transform the city from a colonial outpost to a cosmopolitan centre. Today, the brewing business he founded continues as part of Molson Coors Beverage Company.
Brandeis Denham Jolly, C.M., teacher, entrepreneur, publisher, broadcaster, philanthropist, civil rights activist, community leader (born 26 August 1935 in Industry Cove, Jamaica). Jolly began his business career by purchasing and operating rooming houses and nursing homes. He later purchased and became the publisher of Contrast, a Black community newspaperin Toronto and established FLOW 93.5, the first Black-owned radio station and the first station in Canada to showcase Black music and the stories of the Black community. Jolly also was involved with or founded and led community groups — such as the Black Action Defence Committee — that sought to end police violence targeting young Black men. Jolly also contributed generously to several causes including scholarships for promising young Black Canadians.